Week 7 · Chapter

Chapter 7 — The New Republic

U.S. History to 1877 Free sample edition

The module's primary reading · ~55–65 minutes · Objectives 1 and 5 · Read it first this week, before the lecture and the slide deck.

In plain language

This week is about the first years of the government the Constitution created, from George Washington's presidency to the election of 1800. Americans split into the first two political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans (rival groups that organized to win elections and run the government), over a national bank, Britain and France, and a free press. Washington's Farewell Address (his public goodbye letter to the country) of 1796 warned against parties. Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address (the speech a new President gives on taking office) of 1801 spoke to both parties. You will also see who the new republic's arguments left out, including Native nations in the Ohio country and enslaved people in Washington's own household.

Why you already care about this

Picture two neighbors in a port town in the 1790s. Each one buys a different newspaper. One paper praises the government in Philadelphia; the other calls it a danger to liberty. Over the fence, each neighbor tells the other that his paper prints lies.

You have probably seen a version of that split, in a family group chat, a student government, or a club that divided into two camps. The question underneath is hard. How does one government survive when its own citizens stop trusting each other's news? That was the new republic's problem, and it is the week in miniature.

In 1787 the Constitution framed a government. In 1796 Washington warned the country against the spirit of party. By 1801 the presidency had passed from one party to the other without a shot. You will read the two documents at either end of that story, one short pinned passage at a time.

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

explain Hamilton's financial program and the bank debate;
tell the Federalist Party from the Democratic-Republicans, and both from the Federalists of 1788;
explain early foreign policy and what the Treaty of Greenville meant for Native nations;
source and close-read the Farewell Address;
explain the Alien and Sedition Acts;
read Jefferson's First Inaugural Address;
give "entangling alliances with none" to the right man and the right year.

Hook to keep: a warning against parties is not the same as a country without them.

Carry this sentence with you: Washington's words are not Jefferson's words; check the host.

Where we are

Already covered: Week 1 built the four moves of sourcing, contextualization, close reading, and corroboration. Weeks 2 and 3 traced the colonies and how colonial law built hereditary racial slavery. Weeks 4 and 5 followed the break with Britain and the Declaration of Independence (1776). Week 6 read the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution (1787), The Federalist No. 10, and the Bill of Rights (1791).
This week: Washington's and Adams's administrations, Hamilton's financial program, the first party system, early foreign policy and the Treaty of Greenville, the Farewell Address, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the election of 1800 with Jefferson's First Inaugural Address.
How they connect: Week 6 ended with a frame of government on paper. This week shows that frame tested by its first quarrels.
Where we're going next: Week 8 reviews Weeks 1 to 7 and reads the first federal census, then the midterm; Week 9 picks up Jefferson's presidency.

Week 6 gave you the word Federalists: the people who supported the proposed Constitution in 1787 and 1788. Hold that definition tight, because this week the same word names a different group. Week 6 also gave you the Northwest Ordinance, with its promise of good faith toward Native nations. This week tests that promise. Two documents and many names is a real load for you, and the course is built to be supportive of it. Each section takes one step, and you can stop after any of them.

1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank

Imagine a farmer and a merchant in the same county in 1791. The merchant ships flour to distant ports and borrows money to do it. He likes the idea of a national bank that lends, holds the government's money, and issues notes he can trust. The farmer grows his own food and owes little. He worries that a bank in a far-off city will serve rich men in trade, not him. Which of them would you side with, and why?

That argument was real, and you will meet both sides in it. The first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, set out to put the new government's finances on firm ground. Hamilton's financial program was his plan to do it, and two parts matter most for you:

Assumption, a taking-over of debts. In his Report on Public Credit of 1790, Hamilton urged that the federal government assume the states' Revolutionary War debts, so that the nation as a whole paid them.
A national bank. A national bank is a bank chartered by the federal government to hold its funds, move tax money, and lend to it. Congress passed the bank bill, and Washington signed it in 1791.

The bank set off what you will call the bank debate: the argument over whether the Constitution allowed Congress to charter a bank at all. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Attorney General Edmund Randolph called the bank unconstitutional. Hamilton answered that the Constitution carries implied powers, powers the government may use because they help carry out a power the text names.

Worked example — sorting the bank debate. You sort each argument into its camp.

The Constitution does not name a bank, so Congress may not create one. That is strict construction: reading the Constitution to allow only the powers its text names. Jefferson's side.
Congress may collect taxes and borrow money, and a bank helps it do both, so Congress may create one. That is loose construction: reading the Constitution to allow implied powers. Hamilton's side.
The outcome: Washington signed the bill in 1791, so loose construction won this round.

In words: the bank debate was a quarrel about how to read the Constitution, not only about money. Washington, the named actor here, decided it by signing.

Caveat: the farmer and the merchant are illustrations; real farmers and merchants did not all take one side.

Misconception check. Students often think the bank debate was about whether banks are good or bad. That is tempting, because the farmer and the merchant argue about who benefits. But the sharpest fight was constitutional: did the text allow it? The cure is to name the two readings, strict construction and loose construction, and match each to its leader.

2. Name the first party system: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans

Think about a student government that starts as one friendly council. After a fight over the budget, members begin to sit on two sides of the room. They caucus before meetings and back their own candidates. Nobody voted to create two parties. The split grew out of real disagreements.

The first party system is the rivalry of the 1790s between two such camps:

The Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, favored a strong national government, a national bank, and closer ties with Britain.
The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, favored strict construction, farming interests, and sympathy with France.

Worked example — one man, two camps. You follow James Madison across two weeks of this course.

In 1787, Madison wrote The Federalist No. 10 to persuade readers to ratify the Constitution. That made him a Federalist in the Week 6 sense.
In the 1790s, Madison helped lead the Democratic-Republicans against Hamilton's Federalist Party.
From that essay to the Farewell Address: 1796 − 1787 = 9 years.

In words: one author sat in the camp called Federalists in 1787 and in the camp opposed to the Federalist Party in the 1790s. The shared word hides two different groups.

Misconception check. Students often think the Federalist Party of the 1790s is the same group as the Federalists who backed the Constitution. That is tempting, because the names match. But the ratification-era Federalists were supporters of the Constitution in 1787 and 1788, while the Federalist Party formed later around Hamilton and Adams, and Madison stood on opposite sides of that name. The cure is to attach a year to the word every time.

3. Steer a neutral course: foreign policy and the Ohio country

Picture a small shop between two big stores that are feuding. Each store wants the shop to take its side. The shop owner needs customers from both. Picking a side could ruin the shop, and so could angering both.

That was the new republic's place in the world, and you can feel the squeeze from both sides. After Britain and France went to war in 1793, Washington kept the United States out of it. That policy is neutrality: taking neither side in a war between other nations. The Federalists leaned toward Britain; the Democratic-Republicans leaned toward France.

Jay's Treaty, a peace and trade treaty with Britain, was signed in 1794 and approved by the Senate in 1795. It kept the peace, but it was deeply unpopular in the United States.

The new republic had a second border problem, closer to home, and you should not skip it. In the Ohio country, an alliance of Native nations defeated two United States armies before the Battle of Fallen Timbers. After that battle came the Treaty of Greenville (1795). The treaty names twelve nations, among them the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, and Miamis in the treaty's spellings. It records their cession of land east and south of a boundary line across present-day Ohio. The National Park Service calls the result the dispossession of Native nations. These nations remain nations today, and their histories did not end in 1795.

Worked example — the four moves on the Treaty of Greenville. You take the moves in order.

Sourcing: the United States and twelve named Native nations made it in 1795; it is a treaty; the Avalon Project keeps the text.
Contextualization: it followed a war in the Ohio country that the United States first lost and then won at Fallen Timbers.
Close reading: its third article, in paraphrase, draws a boundary line and records the nations' cession of their claims to the land east and south of it.
Corroboration: set it beside the Northwest Ordinance from Week 6, which promised good faith and said Native lands would not be taken without consent.

The reading in one plain sentence: the Treaty of Greenville shows the cession the treaty records after a war; it is evidence of what was signed, not of whether the nations who signed it had a free choice.

Misconception check. Students often think the new republic's story was only about parties in Philadelphia. That is tempting, because the famous documents come from there. But the government's first years also included a war with Native nations and a treaty that took their land. The cure is to ask, of every document, who is missing from it.

Pause and choose one. (a) Write two sentences on why a treaty signed after a military defeat is hard evidence of consent. (b) Write two sentences comparing the Northwest Ordinance's promise with what the Treaty of Greenville records.

4. Read the Farewell Address: a published warning

Think about a coach who retires and posts a long open letter to the team. She is not speaking at a banquet. She is writing for anyone who will read, and her advice will be quoted for years. You would read it differently from a speech, because no one heard her say it. Your questions change with the form.

The Farewell Address is George Washington's public letter to the people of the United States, announcing that he would not serve again. It is a published address: a public letter printed in newspapers rather than spoken to an audience. Washington never delivered it as a speech. Founders Online keeps the text, headed "United States 19th September 1796". This is the week's Primary Source Workshop document.

Worked example — the four moves on the Farewell Address. You take the moves in order.

Sourcing: George Washington is the author; it is a published address; Founders Online keeps it, dated 19 September 1796. Mount Vernon's encyclopedia records that Madison drafted an earlier version in 1792 and Hamilton rewrote it.
Sourcing, continued: the editors' note says it was first printed in Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser for 19 September 1796, where it carried a date of 17 September. So two days sit in the record, and you name which one you mean. The course keys only the year, 1796.
Contextualization: the two parties had formed, Jay's Treaty had divided the country, and Britain and France were at war.
Close reading: the address warns against party and against permanent ties abroad. The two pinned fragments read:

"warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party, generally."

"our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign world"

Close reading, continued: the address never mentions slavery or the enslaved people in Washington's own household. That same year, 1796, Ona Judge, an enslaved woman, escaped from the President's House in Philadelphia. She remained a fugitive under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, a federal law passed during Washington's presidency.

The reading in one plain sentence: The Farewell Address shows how Washington warned the public against the spirit of party and permanent alliances; it is evidence of his advice, not proof that Americans followed it.

The spirit of party is Washington's name for putting loyalty to a party above the good of the whole nation. His word baneful means harmful or deadly.

Misconception check. Students often think the Farewell Address was a speech Washington delivered to a crowd. That is tempting, because it is called an address. But it was a public letter printed in newspapers. The cure is sourcing: ask how a document reached its audience before you picture the scene.

Honesty note: the address speaks of liberty and union while saying nothing about the people Washington enslaved. Contextualization explains that silence; it never excuses it.

5. Judge Adams's measures: the Quasi-War and the Alien and Sedition Acts

Imagine a printer in 1798 holding a letter from a reader. The letter calls the President a danger to the country. Printing it would sell papers. Printing it might also land the printer in court. What would you weigh before setting the type?

Your choice as that printer came out of a crisis abroad. In the XYZ Affair of 1797 and 1798, French go-betweens, later named only by the letters X, Y, and Z, asked American envoys for a loan and a bribe before talks could begin. Anger at France led to the Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war between the United States and France.

In 1798 a Federalist-controlled Congress passed four laws, the Alien and Sedition Acts. They tightened rules on non-citizens. The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish false, scandalous, and malicious writing about the government (a paraphrase of the National Archives' account).

Worked example — who was prosecuted? You read the evidence the National Archives gives.

The law: it punished false, scandalous, and malicious writing about the government.
The record: the only journalists prosecuted under it were editors of Democratic-Republican newspapers.
The protest: the legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky passed resolutions against the acts, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, arguing that the acts went beyond the powers the Constitution grants.

In words: a law written in general terms fell on one party's printers, and you can see that in the record. That pattern is evidence about how the law was used; it does not by itself prove what every Federalist intended.

Misconception check. Students often think the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed during a declared war. That is tempting, because they came during a crisis with France. But the Quasi-War was undeclared, and the acts targeted critics at home. The cure is to keep the foreign crisis and the domestic law apart, and read what each did.

6. Read Jefferson's First Inaugural: the election of 1800

Think about a team captain who has won a bitter vote against a rival. The first thing he says to the whole team decides whether the losers stay or walk out. A good captain speaks to everyone, not only to his side.

In the election of 1800, the presidency passed from the Federalist John Adams to the Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson. It was the first transfer of power between opposing parties under the Constitution. Jefferson spoke on taking office in his First Inaugural Address, dated 1801. An inaugural address is the speech a President delivers on taking office.

Worked example — the four moves on the First Inaugural Address. You take the moves in order.

Sourcing: Thomas Jefferson is the author; it is an inaugural address, delivered in the Senate Chamber after he took the oath; Founders Online prints it as version III, the text printed in the National Intelligencer that day.
Contextualization: Jefferson had defeated the party in power, after the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Close reading: the first pinned fragment reaches across the party line:

"We are all republicans: we are all federalists."

Close reading, continued: notice the small letters. The names are not capitalized in this version, so Jefferson may be naming shared principles, not only two parties. Another archive prints the sentence with capitals and a comma, which is why the course always names its host.
Close reading, continued: among the principles he lists comes the second pinned fragment:

"entangling alliances with none"

The reading in one plain sentence: Jefferson's First Inaugural Address shows how the winner of 1800 spoke to both parties at once; it is evidence of his public aims, not of whether the parties made peace.

Misconception check. Students often think the election of 1800 ended the parties, because Jefferson said everyone shared the same principles. That is tempting. But the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republicans kept competing. The cure is to read the sentence as an appeal, not a report.

Pause and choose one. (a) Explain in two sentences why a winner's speech is good evidence of his aims but weak evidence of the losers' views. (b) Explain in two sentences what the small letters in the fragment might change about its meaning.

7. Settle the attribution: whose words are "entangling alliances"?

Picture a poster in a hallway with a famous line and the wrong name under it. Many people walk past and remember the name. The wrong name spreads because it sounds right.

That is what happened to one phrase, and you may have seen it on a poster yourself. "entangling alliances with none" is Jefferson's phrase from 1801, not Washington's. Washington's address of 1796 advised steering clear of permanent alliances. The two documents agree in spirit, but the words belong to different men in different years.

Worked example — matching fragments to documents. You match each pinned fragment to its document.

"warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party, generally." comes from D17, Washington's Farewell Address, 1796.
"our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign world" comes from D17, Washington's Farewell Address, 1796.
"We are all republicans: we are all federalists." comes from D18, Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801.
"entangling alliances with none" comes from D18, Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801.
Count: two fragments from each document, 2 + 2 = 4 fragments.

In words: Washington warned against permanent alliances; Jefferson coined "entangling alliances with none". Corroboration settles it: you check each fragment at its host, Founders Online.

Misconception check. Students often think "entangling alliances" comes from Washington's Farewell Address. That is tempting, because Washington's address also warns about ties abroad, and the two ideas sound alike. But the phrase is Jefferson's, from his First Inaugural Address of 1801. The cure is corroboration: search the document itself before you trust a famous quotation.

8. Order the week's years: from the Constitution to 1801

Picture four folders on a shelf, each with a year on its spine. Before you open any of them, you put them in order. Then the week's story has a shape you can follow.

Worked example — ordering the week's years. Put four years from the course chronology in order and measure the gaps.

Order, earliest to latest: 1787 (the Constitution signed), 1791 (the Bill of Rights ratified), 1796 (Washington's Farewell Address), and 1801 (Jefferson's First Inaugural Address).
Gaps: 1791 − 1787 = 4 years; 1796 − 1791 = 5 years; 1801 − 1796 = 5 years.
Span: 1801 − 1787 = 14 years.
Check: the three gaps add back to the span, 4 + 5 + 5 = 14 years.
Farewell to Inaugural: 1801 − 1796 = 5 years between Washington's warning and Jefferson's phrase.

In words: in 14 years the country went from a frame of government on paper to a peaceful change of parties in power. You now have the order you need for the midterm review.

Misconception check. Students often think the Farewell Address came after Jefferson took office, because both documents warn about ties abroad. That is tempting when two texts sound alike. But Washington's address is from 1796 and Jefferson's is from 1801. The cure is the years: put the documents in order before you compare them.

Key terms

Hamilton's financial program — Alexander Hamilton's plan, as the first Secretary of the Treasury, to put the government's finances on firm ground through assumption of state debts and a national bank. (first used: 1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank)
Assumption — the federal government's taking over of the war debts the separate states owed, so that the nation as a whole paid them. (first used: 1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank)
National bank — a bank chartered by the federal government to hold its funds, move tax money, and lend to it. (first used: 1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank)
Bank debate — the argument of 1791 over whether the Constitution allowed Congress to charter a national bank. (first used: 1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank)
Implied powers — powers the government may use because they help carry out a power the Constitution names. (first used: 1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank)
Strict construction — reading the Constitution to allow only the powers its text names. (first used: 1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank)
Loose construction — reading the Constitution to allow implied powers that support the powers it names. (first used: 1. Weigh Hamilton's financial program: debts and a bank)
First party system — the rivalry of the 1790s between the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republicans. (first used: 2. Name the first party system: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans)
Federalist Party — the party of the 1790s led by Hamilton and Adams, favoring a strong national government, a national bank, and closer ties with Britain. (first used: 2. Name the first party system: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans)
Democratic-Republicans — the party of the 1790s led by Jefferson and Madison, favoring strict construction, farming interests, and sympathy with France. (first used: 2. Name the first party system: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans)
Neutrality — a nation's policy of taking neither side in a war between other nations. (first used: 3. Steer a neutral course: foreign policy and the Ohio country)
Jay's Treaty — the treaty with Britain, signed in 1794 and approved in 1795, that kept the peace but was deeply unpopular. (first used: 3. Steer a neutral course: foreign policy and the Ohio country)
Treaty of Greenville — the treaty of 1795 in which twelve Native nations of the Ohio country ceded land east and south of a boundary line. (first used: 3. Steer a neutral course: foreign policy and the Ohio country)
Farewell Address — Washington's public letter of 1796, printed in newspapers, warning against the spirit of party and permanent alliances. (first used: 4. Read the Farewell Address: a published warning)
Published address — a public letter printed in newspapers rather than spoken to an audience. (first used: 4. Read the Farewell Address: a published warning)
Spirit of party — Washington's name for putting loyalty to a party above the good of the whole nation. (first used: 4. Read the Farewell Address: a published warning)
XYZ Affair — the scandal of 1797 and 1798 in which French go-betweens asked American envoys for a loan and a bribe. (first used: 5. Judge Adams's measures: the Quasi-War and the Alien and Sedition Acts)
Quasi-War — the undeclared naval war between the United States and France that followed the XYZ Affair. (first used: 5. Judge Adams's measures: the Quasi-War and the Alien and Sedition Acts)
Alien and Sedition Acts — four laws of 1798 that tightened rules on non-citizens and made it a crime to publish false, scandalous, and malicious writing about the government. (first used: 5. Judge Adams's measures: the Quasi-War and the Alien and Sedition Acts)
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions — the two state legislatures' resolutions protesting the Alien and Sedition Acts. (first used: 5. Judge Adams's measures: the Quasi-War and the Alien and Sedition Acts)
Election of 1800 — the election in which power passed from the Federalist Adams to the Democratic-Republican Jefferson, the first such transfer under the Constitution. (first used: 6. Read Jefferson's First Inaugural: the election of 1800)
Inaugural address — the speech a President delivers on taking office. (first used: 6. Read Jefferson's First Inaugural: the election of 1800)
Version III — the label Founders Online gives to the newspaper text of Jefferson's First Inaugural Address. (first used: 6. Read Jefferson's First Inaugural: the election of 1800)

Summary

Hamilton's program had the nation assume state debts and created a national bank in 1791.
The bank debate set strict construction against loose construction.
The Federalist Party of the 1790s is not the Federalists of 1788.
Washington kept the country neutral; Jay's Treaty kept the peace with Britain.
The Treaty of Greenville of 1795 recorded twelve Native nations' cession of land in the Ohio country.
The Farewell Address (1796) was a published letter, not a speech.
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 fell on Democratic-Republican printers.
Jefferson's First Inaugural Address (1801) says "entangling alliances with none"; Washington never wrote that phrase.

Check your understanding

Work these before looking at the answers — they are ungraded, and the answers (with reasoning) are at the bottom of the page.

An illustrative city founds its first newspaper in 1958, a rival paper in 1963, and merges them in 1979. How many years passed between the two foundings, and how long did the rivalry last?
A club's bylaws say the treasurer may collect dues and pay bills. A member says that means the treasurer may also open a bank account. Is that a strict or a loose reading, and why?
A classmate's slide credits "entangling alliances with none" to Washington's Farewell Address. Correct the slide in two sentences.
An illustrative town passes a rule against printing false attacks on the council, and all six printers charged under it work for one faction's paper. What does that pattern show, and what does it not show?

Answers (worked reasoning — read after attempting)

Between the foundings: 1963 − 1958 = 5 years. Length of the rivalry: 1979 − 1963 = 16 years. Name which dates you are measuring between, as you did with the Farewell Address and the First Inaugural.
It is a loose reading, because the bylaws do not name a bank account; the member argues it is implied by the powers they do name. A strict reading would allow only what the text lists, as Jefferson argued about the national bank.
The phrase comes from Jefferson's First Inaugural Address of 1801, not from Washington's Farewell Address of 1796. Washington advised steering clear of permanent alliances, so the slide should credit Jefferson and the year 1801.
It shows that the rule was used against one faction's printers, as the Sedition Act was used against Democratic-Republican editors. It does not by itself prove what every council member intended, because a pattern in the record is not a cause.

Next up in this module: the Readings & Resources page, the lecture tutorial, the practice set, and the quiz. Next week the Midterm Review adds one new method, reading the first federal census as a numeric source.

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